Conventionally, known vending machines for selling products such as drinks in PET bottles include a product storage device including product storage columns storing products, and a bucket that carries the products. Each product storage column stores a plurality of products in a lined state. When the carrying device is driven, the product storage column pays out the products one by one from its front end part. In an ordinary vending machine, a plurality of product storage columns are arranged side by side along the horizontal direction in a product rack.
The bucket receives a product carried out of the product storage column. The bucket is provided to be movable vertically and horizontally in a region in front of the product rack by a bucket driving unit. The bucket driving unit includes an X-axis carrying mechanism capable of moving the bucket in the horizontal direction, and a Y-axis carrying mechanism that moves the bucket including the X-axis carrying mechanism in the vertical direction.
In the product storage device as described above, the user inserts money of a predetermined sum or more and operates a product selection button, whereby the bucket driving unit is driven to move the bucket to a region in front of the product storage column storing the product that the user desires to purchase. Next, after the product is carried out of the product storage column to the bucket, the bucket is moved close to a product outlet port. This structure enables the user to take out the product through the product outlet port (for example, see Patent Literature 1).